in Newswire November 12, 2019

Telemarketing Texts Sent by 7-Eleven Were Illegal Under the TCPA, Class Action Claims

Last Updated on November 12, 2019

Sousa v. 7-Eleven, Inc.

Filed: November 6, 2019 ◆§ 3:19-cv-02142-BEN-RBB

A class action claims 7-Eleven unlawfully sent unsolicited telemarketing messages to persuade consumers to sign up for promotional texts.

Defendant(s)

7-Eleven, Inc.

Law(s)

Telephone Consumer Protection Act

State(s)

California

7-Eleven, Inc. faces a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the convenience store chain sent unsolicited marketing messages in an attempt to persuade consumers to “opt in” to future text advertisements.

The plaintiff claims she received the following text from the short code “711-711” on October 31, 2019 [sic throughout]:

“Reply with your Zipcode to confirm opt-in for auto dialed marketing txt msgs from 7-Eleven to this mobile #. Consent not required to buy goods/service”

According to the case, “711-711” is a number registered to 7-Eleven, and the message was sent by the defendant using automatic telephone dialing technology without first obtaining the plaintiff’s consent. The use of automated technology to send telemarketing calls or texts is forbidden under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act unless the sender obtains prior express written consent from the recipient, the lawsuit states.

Texts like the one allegedly received by the plaintiff were supposedly part of a marketing campaign described in the lawsuit as a “mass nationwide transmission of text messages to the cell phones of what [7-Eleven] hoped were potential customers.” The defendant’s practice of sending unauthorized, auto-dialed texts with the hope of gaining permission to send similar ATDS-generated messages in the future is “especially pernicious,” the case states, and caused recipients great aggravation.